‘The Universe Speaks in Numbers’ – Interview 7

ROGER PENROSE

Sir Roger Penrose, a hybrid mathematician-cosmologist, is one of the most accomplished scientific thinkers of the past fifty years. In this compelling interview with Graham, Penrose describes some of the key events of his career – how he became interested in the cosmos and the modern theory of gravity, how he first met the brilliant graduate student Stephen Hawking, and how their collaboration began. Graham describes some aspects of Penrose’s early work on gravity in The Universe Speaks in Numbers, and this interview gives several additional insights.

This is one of twenty interviews given by world-class experts to Graham on some of the themes he explores in his new book The Universe Speaks in Numbers. A new interview will be posted weekly.

Among the other interviewees are Michael Atiyah, Ruth Britto, Simon Donaldson, Freeman Dyson, Juan Maldacena, Michaela Massimi, Martin Rees, Simon Schaffer, Lenny Susskind and Edward Witten.